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While Jalaj Saxena claimed six wickets to tip the match in Kerala’s favour; Saurabh Kumar finished with 7/110 for UP against Maharashtra. Shreyas Gopal picked a five-for to put Karnataka in an advantageous position.

Here are the highlights of the day:

Group A

Assam vs Railways: At 224 for two, Railways were trailing by 20 runs at Stumps on day 2.

Saurabh Wakaskar and Shivkant Shukla got Railways off to a good start after the visitors bowled Assam out for 244 in the morning. After resuming on 216 for eight the hosts lost the last two wickets for 28 runs in the morning.

The Railways openers then built a 144-run stand until Wakaskar was bowled by Pritam Das for 80. After 35 runs, Shukla was trapped lbw for 86. Nitin Bhille (18*) and Arindam Gosh (31*) then took the team to stumps in an unbroken 45-run partnership.

Uttar Pradesh vs Maharashtra: With Eklavya Dwivedi (40*) and Imitiaz Ahmed (12*) at the crease, UP were 232 for seven at Stumps and trailing by 80 runs.

Coming together at 30 for one, Almas Shaukat and Shivam Choudhary built a 101-run stand to set the innings on course. Chirag Khurana (4/38), who ended the stand by trapping Shaukat lbw, also accounted for Suresh Raina (0) later in the over to leave UP on 131 for three. UP then continued to lose wickets and were left on 152 for six by the visitors. Saurabh Kumar then joined Dwivedi in steadying the innings and the pair added 62 runs until the former was sent back by A Sanklecha. Dwivedi then rallied on with I Ahmed and saw the hosts through to the end of day’s play.

Earlier, Maharashtra were bowled out for 312 after resuming the innings on 274 for four. Rohit Motwani was the first to return to the pavilion in the first session without a run added to the score-line. Ankeet Bawane was sent back for 119 after resuming his innings on 107 by Saurabh Kumar leaving the team on 292 for six.

Saurabh finished with 7/110 as UP wrapped up the Maharashtra innings earlier in the day.

Karnataka vs Hyderabad: Spinners Shreyas Gopal (5/17) and K Gowtham (3/56) bowled Karnataka to a 47-run first innings lead by bundling Hyderabad out for 136 earlier in the day.

Hyderabad had resumed their innings on 51 for three in the morning with Sumanth Kolla and B Sandeep in the middle. With 28 runs added to their overnight score, Sreenath Arvind struck to end the stand by claiming B Sandeep. The spinners then ran through the rest of the lineup to give the hosts an edge.

Building on the narrow lead, Samarth R and KL Rahul put together 45 runs for the opening stand Mehdi Hasan disrupted the latter’s stumps. He followed it up with three quick wickets – Samarth, Mayank Agarwal and Gowtham to reduce the hosts to 57 for four.

However, Karun Nair found an ally in Stuart Binny and the pair took Karnataka to Stumps at 127 for four. The home team were leading by 174 runs when play ended for the day.

Jharkhand vs Haryana: Ishank Jaggi (127*) had taken Jharkhand to a 103-run first innings lead at the end of Day 2.

A Chahal and A Hooda claimed two wickets each to leave Jharkhand on 60 for four after resuming their innings on 14 without loss. Jaggi and Ishan Kishan then joined hands to revive the innings. The pair added 190 runs for the fifth wicket before the latter was caught by A Sandhu off his own bowling. Mishra then followed up with the wicket of Kaushal Singh 19 runs later.

Jaggi then took the team to stumps with Shahbaz Nadeem at 311 for six.

J & K vs Gujarat: A determined batting performance by the Gujarat batsmen helped the team to 276 for four at stumps. Manprit Juneja (66* off 148) and Chirag Gandhi (31*) had taken the team to a 15-run lead until play ended for the day.

After resuming on 15 without loss, the Gujarat batsmen made valuable contribution with patient batting to shape the innings. Priyank Panchal made 61 off 132 while R Bhatt chipped in with 38 off 138 as Gujarat built the innings.

Kerala vs Team Rajasthan: Team Rajasthan were trailing by 201 runs with four wickets in hand when play ended for the day. Jalaj Saxena claimed six for 46 as the visitors were restricted to 134 for six at Stumps on Day 2.

Earlier, Kerala were bowled out for 335 after resuming on 232 for three. 34 runs into the day’s play, overnight batsman Sanju Samson was sent back by D Chahar for 42. Team Rajasthan then struck at regular intervals to keep the rest of the lineup in check even as Sachin Baby (78 off 142) worked to hold up one end. M Lomror, who accounted for the Kerala captain finished with 4/51 as they wrapped up the hosts innings.

Andhra vs Odisha: Hanuma Vihari posted his maiden first-class triple century as he powered Andhra to a mammoth 584 for five before declaring the innings. The Andhra skipper was unbeaten on 302 (off 456) when declared the innings.

After resuming his innings on 143, Vihari was ably supported by Ricky Bhui to help pile on runs. The batsman also scored a century as they raised a mountainous total.

While Akash Parker knocked back Abhinav Mukund’s stumps to leave TN on 14 for one, Vijay Gohil drew an edge from Murali Vijay through to the wicketkeeper 18 runs later. First over of the second session, Abhishek Nayar claimed Kaushik Gandhi to leave TN on 34 for three and a while later Vijay Shankar was sent back by Gohil leaving the visitors on the back-foot.

Indrajith and Sundar then rebuilt the innings at a steady pace. Speaking about their partnership, Sundar said, “There was pressure and 370 was a very good score on this wicket. When I went in, we needed a good partnership. I just wanted to spend a lot of time with Inder and we batted well.

“We just wanted to play to the merit of the ball. We kept getting runs, so the pressure was slowly easing out. I thought we communicated very well and we ran very well,” he added.

Speaking about the discussion with his senior partner, the batsman said, “Playing to the merit (of the ball) is really important and I think when the team is not in a good position, restricting few shots is very important. Me and Inder did that really well when I went in. I didn't really play a lofted shot and Inder was playing only to his strength. After a while, the boundaries were coming just by playing to the merit of the ball and the pressure was on them.”

Reflecting on the period of play where the TN batsmen seized the advantage from the hosts, Mumbai captain Aditya Tare said, “From 69 for 4 we should have controlled the game better. But in the middle, the game actually drifted away from us. Credit to Indrajith and Sundar for the way they batted. It was a good partnership from them, but we did not bowl well after lunch.”

Speaking about Gohil, who had given Mumbai an early breakthrough, Tare said, “He is our strike bowler when it comes to spinners. We decided to play Aditya Dhumal because the pitch looked a bit dry. I thought it would spin from the second or third day. It is a bit slow, but the odd ball does turn. So hopefully he will come in handy. He did not have a great day but he is a better bowler than that.

“It is quite challenging when you have a left-right combination, especially batsmen who are good against spin. So, it was quite challenging for the spinners. You could see they were a bit confused in the middle as to what to bowl, whether to attack or defend. They started off well. Both of them had good first spells. But the second and third spells weren’t all that good. Hopefully they can come back tomorrow morning,” he elaborated.

Towards the end of day’s play Mumbai tried to keep the batters in check by bowling short. “We were a bit late on that. We should have tried that strategy a bit earlier. We knew that Washington was a bit deceptive on short balls. We have seen a few videos of his. The thing is it is not quite easy to bowl on such pitches, especially in the second session. Third session it gets a bit cooler, there is a shadow on the pitch. There is some encouragement for fast bowlers in the first and the third sessions. That is why we tried bowling short in the end,” the skipper said while adding that Mumbai hope to put up a better performance when play resumes on the third day.

At the end of day’s play, Indrajith had anchored TN to 239 for five with R Ashwin (8*) at the other end.

Tripura vs Madhya Pradesh: At 200 for seven, MP were trailing by five runs at the end of Day 2. Rajat Patidar (79) and Harpreet Singh Bhatia (69) kept the visitors’ innings in the fray even as the Tripura attack kept striking at regular intervals.

At Stumps, Puneet Datey was batting on 20 with Mihir Hirwani, who was yet to open his innings. MB Mura Singh, Gurinder Singh and Rana Datta claimed two wickets each while JB Bhattacharjee picked one wicket. Earlier after Tripura resumed on 88 for six, Gurinder Singh went on to make 57 and A Sarkar made 32 to lift the hosts to a decent score before being bowled out.

Goa vs Punjab: Goa were 94 for one and trailing by 541 runs at Stumps of Day 2 in reply to Punjab’s massive total of 635 runs.

Jiwanjot Singh and Anmolpreet Singh resumed Punjab’s innings on 396 for two and had taken the side to 420 when the latter was run out; ending the partnership for 260. A bit later the opener was sent back by Amogh Desai for 238. Gurkeerat Maan then continued to add on to the total with the lower half of the lineup until he was sent back for 114 by Shadab Jakati. The bowler finished with a five-for when the hosts eventually wrapped-up the Punjab innings.

Services vs Himachal: Himachal were in an advantageous position at the end of second day’s play against Services. AP Vashisht took 4/48 to leave Services wobbling on 153 for six after Himachal posted 364 in the first innings.

Himachal resumed their innings on 273 for five on Day 2 and bowled out for an addition of 91 runs to the overnight score. V Yadav finished with a five-for in the innings.

After resuming on 246 for three, useful contributions by the middle-order complementing Khare’s efforts helped Chhattisgarh post a formidable total on the board. Karn Sharma and A Karnewar claimed three wickets each as Vidarbha looked to plug the flow of runs.

In reply, the hosts were 31 for one with Faiz Fazal (20*) and S Wagh (4*) in the middle.

Siraj four-for skittles out Karnataka for 183

Jiwanjot Singh slams unbeaten double ton, Prithvi Shaw scores century

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Mohammed Siraj claimed a four-for against hosts Karnataka while Piyush Chawla’s five-for against Jammu & Kashmir put Gujarat in an advantageous position. In most other matches of the Ranji Trophy 2017-18 Round 3, batsmen dominated the proceedings on the first day.

Prithvi Shaw, Ankeet Bawane scored centuries. Others to cross the three-figure mark were AN Khare and Ashutosh Singh who built a 227-run partnership for Chhattisgarh; Hanuma Vihari and DP Prasanth Kumar built a 270-run stand for Andhra against Odisha. Double centurion Jiwanjot Singh and Anmolpreet Singh were involved in an unbroken 236-run partnership for Punjab against Goa.

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Assam vs Railways: Assam were 216 for eight at the end of day’s play in Guwahati after being asked to bat. Deepak Bansal claimed three of the top four wickets while Anureet Singh accounted for Gokul Sharma and Amit Mishra (3/56) sent back opener Rishav Das to leave Assam on 78 for five.

Mishra also claimed the top-scorer, Tarjinder Singh (43) leaving the side on 176 for eight. Pritam Das and Dhiraj Goswami then saw the team through to stumps.

Uttar Pradesh vs Maharashtra: Century by Ankeet Bawane (107*) and Rohit Motwani’s not out 62 helped Maharashtra to 274 for four until the end of day’s play. Saurabh Kumar claimed SM Gugale with 26 runs on the board and a bit later claimed R Tripathi to leave Maharashtra on 50 for two.

Bawane, then anchored the innings to a comfortable position until stumps. He was involved in an unbroken 124-run stand with Motwani for the fifth wicket until play ended for the day.

Karnataka vs Hyderabad: After two washed out matches, Hyderabad dominated hosts Karnataka in the third round of the ongoing season. Mohammed Siraj claimed a four-wicket haul while Ravi Kiran picked three wickets and Pragyan Ojha two wickets to bundle out Karnataka for 183.

Stuart Binny was the top-scorer for Karnataka with 61 runs while Siraj and Co dismantled the home team’s batting lineup on Day 1.

At Stumps, Hyderabad were 51 for three with Sumanth Kolla and B Sandeep in the middle.

Jharkhand vs Haryana: Haryana’s No. 3 batsman, CK Bishnoi was stranded on 61 as Sunny Gupta and Jaskaran Singh ran through the lineup to bowl the visitors out for 208.

After electing to field, Varun Aaron dealt the first blow by claiming GA Singh with the team on 39. After 48 runs, Shahbaz Nadeem accounted for Rohilla to leave Haryana on 87 for three. Bishnoi and Rajat Paliwal then stitched a 59-run stand until Nadeem claimed the latter to leave the visitors on 146 for three. Sunny Gupta and Jaskaran then dismantled the rest of the lineup and bowled the side out on the first day.

J & K vs Gujarat: In his second match for Gujarat, Piyush Chawla claimed yet another five-for to help bowl J & K out for 261. While openers Mohammed Omar Banday (54) and Shubham Khajuria (54) got the team off to a good start with a 99-run opening stand the team continued to lose wickets at regular intervals afterwards. The leg-spinner who ended the stand with the wicket of Shubham Khajuria finished with five for 92. H Patel claimed three for 57 while CT Gaja and R Bhatt picked a wicket each.

Kerala vs Team Rajasthan: Electing to bat, Kerala were 232 for three until Stumps on Day 1. Although opener Vishnu Vinod was sent back for two by Pankaj Singh the rest of the middle-order helped the team to a comfortable position until the end of day’s play.

Jalaj Saxena made 79 while Rohan Prem contributed 86 runs to help build the innings. When play ended for the day, Sanju Samson (25*) was batting with Sachin Baby on 38.

Andhra vs Odisha: With a 270-run partnership for the second wicket, DB Prashanth Kumar and Hanuma Vihari helped Andhra to 278 for two until stumps. After KS Bharat was sent back by Suryakant Pradhan with the team on eight, the duo joined hands to shape the innings.

The flourishing stand was brought to a halt by Basant Mohanty. The bowler bowled Prashanth for 127 at the stroke of stumps. At the end of day’s play, Vihari was batting on 143.

Mumbai vs Tamil Nadu: A sparkling 123 by Prithvi Shaw and a 62-ball 57 by Shreyas Iyer helped set the stage for a respectable total for Mumbai. Coming together at 8/1, the duo added 98-runs for the third wicket until on song Iyer edged Vijay Shankar to the wicketkeeper. Shaw continued to hold the fort.

After he was sent back by R Ashwin for 123, Aditya Tare and Abhishek Nayar continued to build on the platform. However, the dismissal of the captain by Vijay Shankar late in the day left Mumbai on 308 for six. He also followed up with the wicket of Vijay Gohil to leave the hosts on 314 for seven at stumps.

Suryakumar Yadav contributed 39 runs earlier in the innings while Siddhesh Lad made 18 until he was sent back by Ashwin.

Shaw, who had helped build the innings even as he lost partners, said, “I was not thinking about the wickets we lost. I just tried to stay as long as possible at the crease and score as many runs as I could.

“I was not thinking that Ashwin sir is bowling, but I just planned that if I dominated it would be a good sign. I was playing him normally as I played against all the spinners,” he added when asked about batting opposite the senior off spinner.

Looking back, however, Shaw does regret missing out on an opportunity to score a double century. “The 200 wasn’t on my mind, I just wanted to bat as long as possible. I don’t know what happens to me after getting a 100. I didn’t plan much. It was a very good opportunity. It was challenging to play against Ashwin. I missed my double hundred, and that hurt the team a bit too,” he said.

Speaking about the difference at the first-class level and junior cricket he said, “The main difference is with the bowler’s pace. There are pace bowlers at the U-19 level but they are lacking in experience comparatively to Ranji Trophy pacers. As Ranji Trophy bowlers play a lot of matches, they know how to bowl on different types of wickets and take wickets.”

While saying that he has learnt consistency from watching players in the India ‘A’ and Mumbai squad, the batsman who has three tons from four first-class matches added, “When I played for India Under-19 and got an opportunity to train under Rahul (Dravid) sir, I learnt lot of things. Here also Sameer (Dighe) sir helped me a lot and I think such type of experiences help in a youngster’s growth as a cricketer,” he mentioned.

Tripura vs Madhya Pradesh: After a delayed start to the match in Agartala, Tripura were left tottering at 88 for six in 40 overs by the Ishwar Pandey-led MP attack. While opener BB Gosh remained not out on 42 at stumps, the pacer along with Ankit Sharma wrecked the hosts’ lineup.

Ishwar finished the day with three for 20 while Ankit claimed two for 28.

Goa vs Punjab: Jiwanjot Singh anchored Punjab to 396 for two on Day 1 with an unbeaten 215-run knock. He was ably supported by Anmolpreet Singh (103*) in an 236-run unbroken stand for the third wicket to put the side in a commanding position. After the visitors lost opener Manan Vohra in the first over without a run on the board, Uday Kaul helped lay the foundation for a solid total. He shared a 160-run stand for the second wicket until he was sent back by RR Singh.

Services vs Himachal: Himachal were 273 for five at the end of day’s play with N Gangta (89*) and Rishi Dhawan (14*) in the middle. P Chopra made 55 at the top of the order while middle-order batsman AK Bains made a determined 167-ball 68 to help build the innings. V Yadav claimed three wickets for Services while Diwesh Pathania and Sachidanand Pandey claimed a wicket each.

Vidarbha vs Chhattisgarh: Courtesy a 227-run stand between centurions Ashutosh Singh and Amandeep Khare, Chhattisgarh piled on 246 runs for three wickets on the first day. After Umesh Yadav claimed both the openers to leave the visitors on 19 for two, the Ashutosh – Khare pair milked the hosts’ attack. While Khare remained not out on 116, Ashutosh was dismissed by Umesh at the stroke of Stumps.